The farm and farmhouse

About Me

Hi! Im a wife in my mid twenties, living on a farm in the Midwest. Just trying to make ends meet and save for our future as we remodel our old farmhouse, and stay out of debt.
____________________________
As of March 2019

Archive for November, 2014

Internship is still going well, and words can not describe how excited I am to get started on that job full time. I can barely stand it in the office anymore, and I'm just counting the days.

I'm going to be earning a minimum of $300 a week after tax, which is a little bit more than I am making now. Trying to figure out a new budget, since I won't be eating lunch out everyday. Although still probably once a week when I drive to the city to work.

Paid all my monthly bills (including my water this time lol) and even paid $20 towards to LOC. Credit card is down to $150.

Sold two goats, which will be picked up in 2 weeks. That will cover the rest of my hay for the year.

We have a fun weekend planned. 2 our of favorite video games came out today. So tomorrow we are going to pick them up and have a game weekend with friends and family. Money is already set back for them, so no worries.

After working extra all week I'm happy to have some time to relax and have a good time.

Yesterday I received a statement from the insurance company saying that we will be getting a bill shortly for some recent lab work, to the tune of $500!!!!

I am so furious. I was told it would be free! Our insurance is suppose to give free lab work, and our doctor personally suggested that place because it was supposed to be covered.

Before we had the tests I even asked the receptionist if we were in network and she said yes. She took our credit card, and said, "well it looks like your insurance covers everything but $35."

I thought that was odd, considering it was supposedly free, but I thought maybe we would just get reimbursed or something. Or it was a co-pay.

Well it turns out... yeah they take our insurance, but they are counted as "out-of-network", which is basically the same thing as not being covered!

Sure enough, I did some digging online. And it lists our healthcare as covered. Then at the very bottom is tiny fine print, it says, "will be counted as out-of-network."

What a bowl full of poo. Apparently this is a common problem with the company, and there is a lot of lawsuits against them.

What do I do? When I receive the actual bill I will be calling the company and giving them a piece of my mind. But how in the heck am I supposed to prove that they told me it was covered? Should I just pay it?

I know there is no way I will make my goals this year. But that's okay. A lot of things came up, and I'm just pleased that I was able to save any.

Until the end of the year I just plan on saving as much as I can, and also trying to beat down that LOC. We will be putting husband's Christmas bonus to it, and tax return, etc.

I don't foresee any more big expenses this year, except $500 for hay. I have enough goats to sell and pay for it, it's just a matter of going through the waiting list and calling them up, taking pictures, etc. Which I just don't have time for. Hopefully next week.

I did NOT receive the first car payment. She was in an accident, and couldn't meet me. I'm trying to give her the benefit of a doubt, but if she keeps putting me off I'm going to have to tell her sorry but I've decided to sell the car elsewhere.

I'm on day 4 of my 6, 12 hour days straight. Feeling tired, but I finally got a good night's rest last night, so I feel a bit better than I have.

We had our first snow that stayed, here. It's weird seeing snow on the ground in early November. I hope it's not a sign of another long winter to come. Last year nearly killed me.

Sold two goats yesterday. Paid off the tires, saved $50 for grain, and have $90 to send to the credit card. Plus less goats I have to feed over winter. Just have 5 more to be picked up.

Also getting paid the first car payment today. Not sure how much I'm getting, but I hope to send it all to the LOC.

Something scary happened this morning! The biggest coyote I've ever seen walked right up in broad daylight. It was sticking it's nose through my fence, while the goats and I were standing only 20 - 30 feet away. Kuzco the dog was on the other side of a building eating.

I started screaming and flapping my arms to chase it away. But it just stood there and looked at me. I yelled for Kuzco and he came running. He went after it immediately, but it was the strangest thing. The coyote thought he was playing? It bowed down, wagged it's tail and jumped around a few times like a puppy does. Eventually it got the message and ran off.

Juno the younger puppy is much scarier. She was in a different pen, but she was barking, and snarling. Her voice is much deeper than his.

I hope it doesn't come back. The does will be fine with Kuzco, but the bucks are on the other side of the farm alone and out in the open. So I moved them to the pen next to Juno. If it got in there with them they wouldn't be protected, but I'm hoping Juno barking would scare it off.

Juno has been very bad lately. She is very unpredictable, and will hurt the goats if given the chance. I really hope she matures and calms down, and we can break her of that. Kuzco chased them as a puppy, but he never actually attacked them like she does. Only time will tell.

I told my friend I wouldn't be attending her wedding. I surprisingly WAS able to return the $150 dress. So that will help knock my credit card down.

I put back $200 for tires this week. I may just go ahead and take the other $100 out of my savings and pay them off, so it's done with. I could rebuild savings next week.

Work found a replacement for me! Praise the Lord. Only one person showed any interest, so they told her she got the job before she could change her mind. lol. I will start training her full time in 2 weeks.

Filled out my W-4 for the new job. It's beginning to feel real! We are going office space shopping on Thursday, that will be fun!

I should receive my first car payment next week. Can't wait to see my debt start dropping.

Starting to get anxious about the job switch, and having debt, and little savings. Really going to use my remaining paychecks wisely to pay down my debt and try to save as much as I can.

I paid the house payment today. This is the first time EVER that I didn't send any extra to the principle. The credit card is just too high, so I felt the money was better spent sending it to that.

Still have $450 to pay down by December. Tire price finally came back $316. So I'll have to figure that out too. Should get $200 for a goat in the next couple weeks, so that will help. Trying to sell 2 more, and also might sell the 2 that I'm suppose to hold until Feb.

Did do a little website work last night, so will have $20 coming. Ever little bit helps.

My goats are getting bred, so I will have babies coming in the spring.

Horse shelter is almost finished. Down to the tricky part now. Have most of the materials, it's just figuring out how to do it.

He cried during the meeting we had yesterday to discuss finding a replacement.

Today he was wanting to know if my new employer was legit, and if they would treat me fairly, etc. Telling me to be careful.

I'm touched that I'm so appreciated. But at the same time. Give it a rest man. Be happy for me.

Our church had a bad breakup about a year or two ago and it was really rough. Lots of people turned on the Pastor, many hurt feelings, half the church left, etc. We have recovered, but I think he is still raw.

I think he feels like I am personally abandoning him. (The last Secretary had a big involvement with the upset.) So I've been reassuring him that I'm not leaving because of something he did, or because I'm upset. I've just found a good opportunity, and I want to move into the next step of my life. It's nothing personal.

I've stayed strong. But it's hard. He is like a father figure to me. Very personal relationship. Heck, I used to babysit his kids, the oldest of whom is now in highschool. He was my references for all my previous jobs.

I'm still also stressed about the friend's wedding. But I am trying to relax. I think I've made my decision to go on the vacation as planned. I can't move mountains because of her whims. She has got to have some consequences. I'm still brewing though. I don't need to decide 100% today.

She is getting married in less than 8 weeks. She is in another country right now, and can never make up her mind on anything and it is making me crazy. She hasn't gotten anything planned out yet!

She told me last Friday that she wanted me to make the invitations and send them out by the following Monday. She also finally picked the wedding colors, so I needed to go order my bridesmaid dress. Well I go to the store and there is only 1 dress that will come in, in time for the wedding. (They are suppose to be ordered at least 4 months in advance) So I had to get that one. It was $150. I purchase the invitations. Then the next day she says, never-mind I don't need you to make the invitations. Oh and by the way, we might end up getting married here instead, (other country) AKA you don't need your dress. Well they don't accept returns, so I thought I was out nearly $200 after the dress and invitations.

Well now she moved it back to the states. They had the date set for December 13th. Then last week they changed it to Jan 3rd, whatever that is fine. Well now she has changed it again to Dec. 20th. The ONE SATURDAY in the entire year that I told her I couldn't be there!

My family has had a vacation planned for that date for over a year now. The entire family is meeting together, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, for the first time in years. The week can't be changed. Flights are booked, etc.

So now basically I either have to skip her wedding, or cancel our vacation. My husband and my parents have really been looking forward to it. They are all mad at me, and want me to skip her wedding.

I tried to get them to go on vacation Tues - Fri instead of the originally planned Thus - Sun (Rest of the family will be there all week.) But then husband has to take off 2 additional days, which he doesn't have enough vacation time for, and that leaves him with no vacation hours until they roll over in July. Plus then I will have to take off more days.

Everyone is upset at ME, and I don't know what to do. I don't need this stress. I don't want to miss my best friend's wedding, but I also don't want to skip my family vacation, and also make my husband and parents miss out.

Still trying to work out how to get our dates changed. But I'm not sure if it is going to happen. I may have to choose.

Overall I think it went pretty well though. At least he wasn't angry with me. Just sad. Already this morning he has called me and asked if there was any way I could work both jobs. I said no.

They are all struggling with who they are going to find to replace me. Good luck. No one is going to do what I do and put up with it. I know they are in a hard spot, but I just keep telling myself that it's not my problem.

I am SO excited. I am officially a real life professional web designer! I start full time on January 1st. I'm working for them now on my days off and in the evenings, but due to it being an "internship" I can't get paid. Once I hit 160 hours then my internship will be fulfilled and he can begin paying me for part time. I think I'm at around 100 hours now.

It is going to be weird to work from home mostly, and have enough time to enjoy life, and be a lot less stressed.

I absolutely love working at the internship, and I love the people. I love to be able to crack nerd jokes, and that everyone is interested in the same things as me!